Power play

As soon as the girls8217; identities were ascertained, the policemen knew the case was sensitive. One of the girls, Gulshana Akhtar alias Pepsi of Kaw Mohalla in downtown Srinagar, was working as a Special Police Officer who was hostile towards the policemen, repeatedly dropping the name of a senior police officer and threatening them with dire consequences. The other two girls were identified as Tahira and Bunty, who were also working as SPOs and refused to cooperate with the cops.

As the investigation repeatedly took them to a few senior police officers, one investigator informed his superiors. The young sub inspector received a surprise order: Don8217;t pursue the case.

Shaken by the clout of the girls, the policemen buried the file and let the four go scot-free. In fact, Tahira had later given a statement before a judicial magistrate under 164, claiming that they girls were being supplied to clients in and outside the state and Gulshana Akther alias Pepsi was the kingpin of the racket. Six year down the line, the case is still 8220;under investigation8221;. In Qazigund police station where the case file, that had detailed confession reports of the three women and the man, is missing.

Gulshana Akhtar alias Pepsi, however, was not the only major link of this sex abuse scam that had been slowly institutionalised under official patronage in Kashmir. Another woman was also growing in clout: 42-year-old Sabeena developed an exclusive clientele of top politicians, senior security force and police officers, counter-insurgents working for security agencies and several big businessmen in Srinagar.

Sabeena8217;s story begins from a remote Ijhara village in Uri. A village girl, she dreamed to make it big in life. Sources reveal that she shifted to Srinagar and married Abdul Hameed Bhulla, a low-rung employee in Health department in Haba Kadal locality of downtown city in 2000. Sabeena had already developed contact with Riyaz Ahmad Langoo, a man who later became her closest associate in developing a well-knit sex ring with a high-profile clientele.

Initially, Sabeena and her family lived in Chinkral mohalla in downtown city. Sources reveal that Sabeena8217;s first contact with police and security agencies was through a few sources and counter-insurgents who were introduced to her by Langoo. It began with the local police station and the neighbourhood security force bunker who were asked not to 8220;harass8221; her. Encouraged, she expanded her network.

Sources reveal that the police officers and politicians helped to engage several of Sabeena8217;s girls as SPOs and daily wagers in government departments in lieu of using them as 8220;comfort women8221;. A powerful employees union leader too had become a 8220;regular client8221;, giving her total immunity. Her activities, according to sources, were not completely hidden from the public gaze but the frequent visits from security forces and police ensured it remained limited to whispers in the old city neighbourhood.

Nobody, however, knew the true story till 2004 when J-K Police8217;s intelligence wing unearthed it. Sources reveal that the then Intelligence chief of J-K Police had been receiving inputs about the existence of a well-knit prostitution racket in the city. In August, the officer 8212; who is well known for his integrity 8212; laid an elaborate covert operation with surveillance of the mobile phones of the suspects. It led the J-K Police intelligence sleuths to Sabeena.

Sources also reveal that the J-K Police intelligence had alerted the Srinagar police that led to raids across the city. Sabeena was arrested along with her husband Abdul Hameed Bhulla, two Jammu businessmen Ashwani Singh of Gandhinagar and Jagbeer Singh of Canal, a Kashmiri trader Ghulam Qadir Bhat of Shamaswari and four girls. The surveillance of Sabeena8217;s mobile phone had already changed the contour of the case.

The secret was out: Sabeena had been running a prostitution ring with an exclusive clientele of powerful politicians, security force and police officers. Sources reveal that official patronage encouraged Sabeena to rope in girls in distress and push them into flesh trade, knowing that the fear of personal disgrace, humiliation and social repercussions would always keep them silent. Many of the girls, whose names surfaced during the probe, were been lured by promises of government jobs.

But once the probe established the links of Sabeena8217;s network to powerful people, the police investigators were ordered to bury the case. Thus a case was registered FIR 17/ 2004 dated 14-10-2004 under section 3, 4, 5,7,8 Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act, PITA against Sabeena and eight others including her husband, four girls and three men at Maharajgunj police station.

The fear of exposure led to a press briefing where the cops gave out some details of a flesh trade racket. Sources reveal that the 8220;xplosive details8221; which had linked the ring to politicians, security force officers and police officers were deliberately omitted. Sources reveal that the testimonies of the four girls arrested in the case in October, 2004 were taken off the case file. However, the J-K Police8217;s intelligence wing, it is learnt, had informed the state government about the involvement of ministers, legislators, police and security force officers. The issue was hushed up because of its potential implication on the fate of the coalition government.

Meanwhile, the case was made to weaken so much so that Sabeena and the other accused were bailed out in a month and half.

After her release, Sabeena shifted her residence from Chinkral mohalla to Haba Kadal. Encouraged by the support from her clients in the government, she went straight back to business. In fact, the fallout of this flawed execution of the case finally led to two lawsuits against the lower rung police investigators: an accussed filed a defamation suite and even a plea for the quashing of the FIR itself.

Sabeena was not disturbed till 14 March, 2006 when a group of elders from Habakadal8217;s welfare committee approached the Shaheed Gunj police station with two porn CDs and filed a complaint. The police filed a case of pornography FIR number 20/2006 dated 14-03-2006 under section 67 IT, which said 8220;a few days ago one minor boy handed over a CD cassette to this mohalla committee through a fruit vendor, Bashir Ahmad Fafoo of Purshyar. The CD was seen and observed that here is an obscene act filmed upon one girl belonging to our mohalla8221;.

The Police began routine investigations and identified a 15-year-old girl from Drebyar, Habakadal, who was called along with her parents and questioned. The story of the 15-year-old victim was linked to Sabeena and her powerful clients. The police arrested her associate Riyaz Langoo and Naseer Ahmad, who had transferred the porn pictures on a CD. The case was treated as a 8220;routine crime8221; busted by the police and as it involved pornography.

But once Sabeena8217;s name propped up, the top police brass sought a report from the Sub Divisional Police Officer Javaid Koul who was investigating the case. And the investigating officer sent a written confidential report to his superiors, outlining the involvement of Sabeena in what was an organised rape of a minor by top politicians, police and security force officer. Immediately the investigators were asked to put the case under carpet. And even as the sections of rape were added to the pornography case, there were verbal orders not to proceed further.

When The Indian Express exposed the powerful racket on April 29, quoting this confidential report, the police swung into action and arrested Sabeena. Counter-insurgent Shabir Kala and an owner of a petrol pump Mehraj Kala, too, were also picked up. The expose led to a massive public outcry forcing the government to hand over the investigation to the CBI. The story continues8230;

April 29
The Indian Express exposes the Srinagar Sex Abuse Scandal involving top politicians that include two former ministers, three SPs and other top police officers, a BSF DIG and several security force officers
The J-K Government reacts saying it will probe. Within hours, J-K Police raids the house of Sabeena, the kingpin of the racket, arrests her and seals her house.

APRIL 30: Deputy Chief Minister and state Law Minister Muzaffar Hussain Beig demands CBI to probe the involvement of top politicians, police and security force officers in the scandal. Right wing separatist women8217;s organisation, Dukhtaran-i-Millat DeM says it will file PIL if names of the accused are not revealed.

May 1: J-K Government orders the transfer of the case to CBI. A violent mob tries to set ablaze Sabeena8217;s house. Mirwaiz Umer Farooq says the scandal is part of the government strategy to patronise immorality in Kashmir. Coalition partner PDP calls for an inquiry to identify the culprits.

May 2: High Court takes suo motu cognisance of The Indian Express report.

May 3: Kashmir University students demand exposure of names of the people involved.

May 4: Police arrest several accused in the racket. Protests continue in the Valley.

May 5: Complete shutdown in the Valley. A 2,000-strong violent mob demolishes Sabeena8217;s house. Police summons its two DySPs for their involvement in the scandal.

May 6: Protests in Kashmir University and National Institute of Technology. CM Ghulam Nabi Azad says his government will 8220;do everything to punish8221; the politicians and officers involved in the scam. Cong MP Saif-ud-din Soz calls for action against the people involved.

May 7: Film makers Mahesh Bhat and Ashok Pandit write to Sonia Gandhi.

May 8: High Court Bar Association flies PIL in High Court.

May 9: Four militant outfits call for ban on cable television. Cable operators stop services.

May 10: High Court seeks report from J-K government. Hizbul Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen ask cable operators to resume their services.

May 11: A 15-member CBI team, headed by DIG Pankaj Kumar, reaches Srinagar. Shake-up in police administration as two accused police officers are attached. Cable operators stop operation again as militants threaten them.

May 12: Complete shutdown in the Valley and protests in Kashmir University .

May 14: NC chief Omar Abdullah accuses Mufti Mohammed Sayeed of hushing-up sex abuse scam. Imams of mosques across the Valley stage protests against the scam.

May 15: HC reprimands the CBI saying, 8220;Why don8217;t you act?8221; Decides to monitor the CBI probe on a daily basis. Congress accuses coalition partner PDP of covering up the case when it first surfaced in October 2004.

May 16: PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti says the exploitation of girls started during the NC regime.

May 18: Dy CM Muzaffar Hussain Beig says powerful people in the government are trying to scuttle the probe.

May 22: CBI starts identification parade of the accused.

May 24: PM Manmohan Singh makes an indirect reference to the racket at his roundtable speech, terms the scandal as 8220;shameful8221; and an inheritance of strife. HC tells CBI to act from the top and start identification of the influential people first.

May 25: Hindu hardliners, Shiv Sena protest in Jammu against the involvement of Congress and PDP leaders.